A bag belonging to Alice Gross, the 14-year-old girl missing for a week, has been found by police alongside a canal towpath on the River Brent.

Alice’s purple rucksack was found on Tuesday and included items that have been identified by her family as belonging to her.

She disappeared last Thursday lunchtime while walking alone on the Grand Union Canal towpath at Brentford Lock, Middlesex.

It is the last known sighting of Alice, who left her Hanwell home at 1pm that day telling her family she would return home that evening but failed to.

CCTV footage of her walking in the River Brent area has been released by the Met Police in the hope that members of the public may have seen her.

She was captured on security cameras walking towards Kew at 2.23pm and then walking back towards Hanwell at 3.45pm.

Police said they are also concerned for the girl’s welfare because she has been in ill health recently. She had also reportedly left her money and Oyster Card at home.

She is described as white, 5ft 2nc tall and of very slim build with shoulder-length, light brown hair. She was wearing dark blue jeans and a dark green cardigan when she disappeared.

The Met Police said they were working on the assumption that Alice was heading home at the time she went missing, though at this stage there is “no information to suggest that anything untoward may have happened” to her.

CCTV still of Alice on the day she disappeared

The investigation is still a missing person’s one, however, the Met’s Homicide Team is now leading on the case as they can bring additional resources and expertise to locate Alice.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Chalmers from the Homicide and Major Crime Command said: “A week on since Alice was last seen by her family we are becoming increasing worried about her welfare and safety as each day passes.

“Her disappearance is out of character and this investigation continues to be a priority for us. Alice has been missing for a considerable period of time and her family are desperate to have her back home where she belongs.”